Chandra Finds Evidence for Violent Stellar Merger

Astronomers think that some GRBs are the product of the collision and merger of twoneutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole. The new research gives the best evidence to date that such collisions will generate a very narrow beam, or jet, of gamma rays. If such a narrow jet is not pointed toward Earth, the GRB produced by the collision will not be detected.

Read the full story at the Chandra Photo Album page.